Family Strengthening Awards
2009 Winner

Family Strengthening Program
Catholic Charities, Green Bay, WI

Since 2005, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Green Bay, WI, has been steadily building its Family Strengthening Program (CCFSP), first focusing on budget counseling and financial literacy, and now adding Hispanic outreach and immigration services.

Over the last four years, the program has been so successful in removing barriers to success and building strong families that Catholic Charities in Green Bay has come to be considered by its community as the leader on family strengthening and poverty issues.

Family strengthening specialists meet with families to discuss their situations, identify the barriers to their success, and discover what can be done to overcome them. Often, clients are unaware of or don’t know how to access services that can help them. CCFSP serves as a bridge to these services.

A major goal of CCFSP is to help families improve their financial situation. Financial illiteracy remains the single greatest barrier to stability and self-sufficiency for individuals and families.

Budget counseling helps families develop a spending plan, take advantage of a matched savings plan, and enroll in a debt management plan, which allows clients to repay debt at a more affordable rate and improve their credit.

Financial literacy classes cover a range of important topics: credit, renting, banking, money management, and homebuyer education. Free tax preparation also helps low-income families claim valuable tax credits, which they can use to boost their family assets.

CCFSP also addresses other barriers to success, providing housing counseling, parenting workshops, immigration and citizenship services, assistance for families experiencing domestic violence, assistance in family/school relationships, and workshops on cultural issues affecting Hispanic families. Through community partnerships, the program can also assist with other needs.

“We’re so excited about receiving the Family Strengthening Award, and humbled,” said Karen Johnston, executive director of Catholic Charities in Green Bay.

“These last several years, we’ve looked at what other agencies were doing in family strengthening and tried to do the same with our program. So this is such a gift to have our program recognized, especially for those who have embraced family strengthening and worked so hard with families. We’ve seen so much success with this in moving people out of crisis.”

Read more: Download Grant Application 

Visit Web site: Catholic Charities, Diocese of Green Bay